


Halfbreed

by GemmaRose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Bilingual Character(s), Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Closure, Consent Issues, Cuddling & Snuggling, Ear Scritches, Education, Electrocution, Feelings Jams, Galra Keith (Voltron), Group Hugs, Haircuts, Homework, Hugs, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Underage, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Kissing, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Purring, Sexual Slavery, Shapeshifting, Slavery, Training, petting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-09 19:15:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7813858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Team Voltron breaks into Zarkon's command center to rescue their Red Paladin, things go sideways and Lance meets a boy who's not a soldier and definitely not a full-blooded galra. And then things get <i>interesting</i>.</p><p>Crossposted from the <a href="https://voltron-kink.dreamwidth.org/1161.html?thread=195977#cmt195977">Voltron kink meme</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

This was bad. This was very, very bad. Shiro had flown Black in as a distraction while the rest of them took a cloaked shuttle through a hacked cargo bay, and now Zarkon had the Black Lion and Lance had no fucking clue where he was. And even if he did know, they couldn’t leave until they somehow got Shiro’s Lion back or they’d _still_ be unable to form Voltron.

Footsteps approached from around the corner, a unified march loud enough to be audible over the alarm, and Lance looked quickly at the nearest doors. He slammed his hand against the operation panel of the one on his right, and a little red light flashed above it. Damn, that was right! Back on the balmera he’d had to use the hand of the robot guard to shut the hangar bay doors because galran technology didn’t _work_ for humans! Lance planted his feet, took a shaky breath, and reached for his bayard. At the very least, he’d go down fighting.

Something wrapped around his wrist, and a hand fastened over his mouth to muffle the yelp he made as he was dragged roughly sideways. The door slid shut, and Lance’s heart leapt into his throat. Those were claws pressing against his cheek. Blunted enough they wouldn’t pierce his skin, but still, he was being held by a galra soldier. Held, but not restrained he realized belatedly. The figure behind him wasn’t wearing armour, either, and it felt shorter than him. The footsteps passed by, and Lance pulled free. He had his bayard in hand and formed into a shotgun in heartbeats, and it was levelled at the galra in front of him in under a second.

The skinny galran boy lifted his hands, looking supremely unthreatened. “You’re really going to shoot the guy who just saved you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Lance lowered his bayard, but didn’t let the weapon dissolve into light.

“Your face.” Lance lifted a hand and tapped under his eye. “You’ve got-”

“From my mom.” the galran boy nodded, touching one of the yellow markings which were identical to Coran and Allura’s in every way but colour. “The patrol’s gone now, you can go.”

“No.” Lance let the shotgun dissolve, and hung his bayard on his hip. “What’s a half-altean kid doing on Zarkon’s command ship?”

The kid scowled, hand falling to rest against his leg, claws catching the light. “My name’s Keith, and I’m not a kid.” he sneered, displaying sharp teeth.

“Whatever, kid.” Lance waved a hand dismissively. “What are you doing here?” he waved the same hand at the surprisingly opulent room. Was this an officer’s quarters of something? He seriously doubted the common grunts got anything better than barracks.

“Waiting for the Emperor to come back.”

Lance almost wished he hadn’t holstered his weapon. Was this guy Zarkon’s son? “Why did you save me?” he asked, keeping a hand on his bayard.

Keith looked away and crossed his arms. Lance noticed for the first time that the boy was wearing only a pair of pajama pants tied loosely with a drawstring, a sheer shirt, and a choker necklace. “I saw Champion fight once. The Emperor took me to a match. He’s human, like you.”

“You mean Shiro?” Lance frowned. “What, you got a crush on him or something?” something about this didn’t seem right. Zarkon’s son wouldn’t be calling him Emperor, which meant Keith wasn’t a prince, but Lance couldn’t think of any other reason for the half-galran boy to be here.

“No.” Keith shook his head, claws digging into his arms briefly then relocating and digging in somewhere else. “I may belong to Zarkon, but you don’t. Your people shouldn’t.” Keith looked back at him, arms falling to his sides.

Belong... to? Lance clenched his free hand into a fist as the pieces fell into place. When he met Zarkon, he was going to punch the bastard straight in the face. He might have to punch Coran and Allura too, if Altea had allowed slavery before its destruction. Owning another person was just, _wrong_. “You shouldn’t either.” Lance grabbed Keith by the wrist, and the boy pulled away with a pained shout. Oh, fuck punching the bastard’s lights out, Lance was going to shoot Zarkon’s dick off.

“Just go.” Keith hissed, cradling his wrist to his chest. “I belong here, you and your friends don’t. Get as far away from Zarkon as you can, and never look back.”

“No.” Lance drew his bayard, and it took the form of a decent caliber one-handed laser gun. Shiro and Allura would both tell him this was a terrible plan, but Shiro had ordered radio silence until they found Allura so neither of them was going to tell him shit. “I can’t operate anything on this goddamn ship, so you’re going to do it for me.”

Keith’s yellow eyes widened, and Lance noticed a darker spot in the middle where an iris should be. “I thought-”

“You said you watched Shiro fight.” Lance said, interrupting Keith and flicking his bayard to indicate the boy should open the door. “Then you know that humans do what we have to to survive.”

Keith glared at him, brushing a lock of long hair out of his eyes. “And if I refuse to betray my Emperor?”

“Then I stay here until he comes back, and I shoot him.” Lance said, standing as tall as he could and praying internally that Keith wouldn’t call his bluff.

Keith’s eyes went wide again, and he reached up to grab at his necklace. No, his _collar_. “I’ll do it.” the half-galran said quietly, and Lance was grateful of his hand’s steadiness as Keith opened the door. He’d drag the asshole along if he had to, but he wasn’t going to just leave a boy no older than his Garrison classmates to be Zarkon’s _slave_. Paladins saved people, right? It was kinda Voltron's whole deal, saving and helping people who needed it. Allura and Shiro couldn’t argue with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Potential directions for this are whump, h/c, fluff, and slow-burn. It's so much fun not knowing what's gonna come next :}


	2. Chapter 2

“We’re in!” Hunk called, and Lance turned to bolt the final few feet to the galran shuttle. Pidge’s had gotten kinda blown up in the firefight, and Keith had opened this one for them. Lance shoved the half-galran boy ahead of him, and staggered as a bolt burned past his elbow.

“Start the engines!” he yelled, ducking into the shelter of the ship and firing back. Hunk could’ve laid down better suppressing fire, but Allura had been knocked out by their first shuttle going boom and there was nowhere to put her down so his hands were full.

“I don’t know how!” Keith yelled back, sounding more than a little distressed.

“Push buttons!” Lance got a robot in the chest, knocking it back into a flesh and blood galra soldier. The door abruptly slammed shut, and he staggered back a step. “Not the engines, but thanks.” he turned and crossed the floor in a few quick strides, looking over the back of the pilot’s seat. “There,” he jabbed a finger at what he seriously hoped was the ignition. “Get us airborn, Rapunzel.”

“Who’s that?” Keith frowned, punching the button, and Lance yelped as the ship shot forward.

“We’re clear!” Hunk yelled, into his helmet as soon as they were out the bay door, communicating with Shiro and Pidge since Lance’s comms were currently offline due to shrapnel. Meanwhile, Lance clung to the back of the single seat on the ship as Keith proved that he really, _really_ didn’t know what he was doing. A blue beam shot overhead, and the shuttle dove.

“I think I’m getting the hang of this!” Keith grinned, sharp and fierce. He yanked on the controls, and the ship shot up towards the castle. “Big white thing?”

“Destination.” Lance said quickly. Keith swerved to avoid another shot from the castle, then executed a perfect barrel roll around the beam’s trail. Fucking showoff.

“You sure?”

“Hunk, tell Coran not to shoot us!”

“Coran, we’re in a galran shuttle. Stop trying to shoot us out of the sky!” he paused for a minute, then looked back at Lance. “He says he took out a squad of fighters on our tail, thanks.”

“Then tell him not to shoot so close!” Keith snapped, angling the shuttle towards the open Lion hangar Shiro was headed into.

“Allura, we need you!” Hunk shook her, pulling off her red-decalled helmet and tugging on her ear. “We can’t get out of here without a wormhole!”

They landed pretty smoothly, and the hangar door slammed shut behind them. Allura sat up with a gasp as it did, and a second later Keith opened up the door in the rear of the shuttle.

“Allura!” Coran’s voice came over the PA. “The castle can’t take much more of this!”

“On it!” Allura leapt to her feet, and staggered out into the hangar at a run. Hunk stood up quickly, and Lance clapped Keith on the shoulder.

“Nice flying. Sure you’ve never handled one of these before?”

“Never touched one.” Keith shook his head.

“Okay, will _somebody_ tell me what’s going on?!” Hunk threw his hands up. “Who’s the galra dude? Why’s he not shooting us? Why did we let him fly!?”

“I got you here, didn’t I?” Keith snapped, baring his sharp teeth again.

Lance crossed the small space and grabbed Hunk by the arm, dragging him out of the shuttle. “His name’s Keith.” he said quietly, walking towards where Shiro and Pidge were getting out of Black. “He saved me from a patrol, and I found out he’s- he _was_ , Zarkon’s...” the words stuck in Lance’s mouth, but he forced them out anyway. “Zarkon’s personal slave. And I don’t think he was the cleaning or labour kind.”

Hunk recoiled in disgust, and Lance nodded. “He can’t be any older than us. I don’t care what Shiro or Allura say, I’m not sending him back.”

Hunk nodded, and clapped Lance on the shoulder. “Good call. We’re Paladins, we help everyone who needs it.”

“Alright, Paladins, time to get out of here.” Allura’s voice came over the PA, and the castle shook.

“The galra barrier is jamming out ability to create one!” Coran yelled in response to someone’s question over the comms.

“The _solar barrier_ is up?!” Keith yelled, stepping out of the shuttle without any of the armour on but still wearing his collar and looking as tall and strong as a galran soldier. “Nothing gets past that!”

“We’re surrounded!” Coran yelled, and Lance felt his stomach drop. A second later, though, the familiar sound of a wormhole energizing came through the speakers and Lance cheered. The castle stopped shaking, and there was the strange sensation of gravity shifting rapidly back and forth for a second, but then they were home free.

“Yes!” Lance cheered, punching the air.

A second later the entire castle rocked, and Lance yelped as he was thrown off his feet. Gravity failed, and all of the lions went flying against the hangar bay door. Everything was weightless and spinning for what felt like a very long time, and when gravity kicked back in Lance fell flat on his face. His helmet saved him from a broken nose, but he was going to have the mother of all headaches in the morning.

“What was that?” Lance groaned. Black got up, and Shiro picked his way over Yellow and Red back to his Lion’s spot.

“Uh, apparently the wormhole turned purple and spit us out.” Hunk frowned. Behind him, Green stood and shook herself before Pidge directed her to her spot.

“At least the doors were shut.” Lance groaned, pulling off his helmet and rubbing his head. “Am I bruised anywhere?”

“Just your shiner.” Hunk grinned. “How’d you get that, anyway?”

“Keith. We found a KO’d soldier, looked like Pidge’s work, and Keith stole his armour and punched me to make it look like I was a prisoner. It actually worked, too. Y’know, for a bit.”

“Huh.”

Someone screamed, and Lance had his bayard out in a heartbeat. Hunk was only a little slower, but Lance lowered his weapon immediately. “It’s okay, guys!” he yelled, running over to the standing Lions. “That’s Keith, he’s a friend.”

“A friend?” Shiro snapped, arm glowing. Pidge’s bayard was active, and pointed at Keith.

“He’s the one who flew us over here.” Lance said, stepping between his friends and the half-galra. Shiro didn’t look convinced, though Pidge’s bayard dropped a little. “He saved my life.” Lance continued, not breaking eye contact with Shiro. “He’s not an enemy.”

Shiro lowered his arm, and after a tense second it stopped glowing. Lance stepped aside so Shiro could address Keith directly. “How old are you, Keith?”

“I’ll be thirty cycles soon.”

Lance’s mouth fell open.

“Thirty?” Pidge said, expressing the same disbelief. “How long do galrans live?”

“Oh, right, you’re humans.” Keith grinned, small and awkward. “By your measurement, I’m seventeen.”

“Oh thank god.” Pidge sighed, deactivating their bayard and putting a hand over their chest.

Yellow padded over, and Lance looked at Blue with a wince. “I’m gonna go get Blue back on her feet.” he said, and started towards his Lion. She was nearly upside down, all tangled up in Red. It looked like the others getting up had smushed them together a bit, but he was pretty sure they’d mostly just fallen like that. Keith trailed after him, and Lance grinned over his shoulder. “Wanna see the inside?”

Keith nodded hesitantly, and Lance pated Blue on the nose. Her mouth opened, but so did Red’s. That was weird, Red only listened to Allura and she wasn’t even in the room yet. Keith took a few steps towards the smaller Lion, shrinking down to the size he’d been when Lance met him. He looked even smaller with the now-too-big under-armour onesie thing hanging off of him. “Um, that’s Allura’s lion.” Lance said, grabbing Keith gently by the elbow. Keith pulled his arm free, and kept walking.

“She’s lonely.” he said quietly, petting Red’s nose.

“What.” Lance said flatly.

“The Lion.” Keith said, running his fingers over an old battle scar. “She misses her Paladin. They have to obey the royal line, but the Princess isn’t her Paladin.”

“Lance, what is your hostage doing?” Allura snapped. Keith jumped, and pulled his hand back towards his body.

“Sorry, Princess.”

Allura stopped mid step, and her eyes widened. Right, she’d only seen Keith with the helmet on, covering the altean markings under his eyes. “You’re-”

“Half altean, yes.” he nodded once. “On my mother’s side.” he hooked a finger under his collar, and Lance wished he had a knife on hand to cut the damn thing off.

“Like Carinon.” Allura said quietly, an unreadable emotion on her face. “Well, you can’t return to the Empire, but any altean is more than welcome to stay in the castle of lions.” her expression changed easily to a small smile.

“Hey, Princess?” Lance shifted his weight to his other foot, fiddling with a bit of shrapnel stuck in his helmet. “Are you the Red Paladin, or does the Lion just have to obey you because you’re the Princess?”

Allura gave him an odd look. “The latter. How did you know?”

“He didn’t.” Keith grabbed his elbow, holding his arms in close to his torso. “I did. I’m sorry, she just sounded so lonely I thought-”

“Her last Paladin was of mixed species.” Allura said slowly. “Tell me, how are your reflexes?”

“Fine, I gue-” Keith ducked, and the red bayard clattered against Red’s nose.

“Your reflexes are excellent.” Allura said coolly, walking past Keith and picking up her bayard. “But you’re in no condition to be a Paladin.”

“Of course, Princess.” Keith bowed his head. Lance bristled, and grabbed Allura by the wrist.

“He can fight, and he can fly at least as good as me. If he can hear Red, shouldn’t he be a Paladin?”

“I won’t risk your ability to form Voltron by replacing a stable factor with an unstable one.” Allura said smoothly, pulling her arm free with ease. Turning to Keith, she looked at him sternly. “Thank you for flying us back to the castle. You may stay with us as long as you wish, but know that I do not trust you as far as I can throw you.”

“Of course, Princess.” Keith bowed to her very formally. Lance gritted his teeth, but held his tongue.


	3. Chapter 3

Lance walked out of the Lion hangar, and paused at the sight of Keith standing in the hallway. “Need something?” he asked, tilting his head slightly.

“I, uh, don’t know where I should go.” Keith admitted, head down.

“Duh.” Lance facepalmed. “C’mon, I’ll give you the tour.” he reached for Keith’s wrist, then remembered the way the half-galran had flinched earlier and turned the motion into a wave. “That’s the hangar, obviously.” he gestured at the door, already starting down the hall. “We’ve got these cool, like, zipline things that take us down there from the main levels, but the only ways back up are stairs and the elevator” he tapped the operation panel, and the little light for the elevator’s position started moving down.

“Where to first?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at Keith. “We’ve got the training room, kitchen, dining room, common room. Well, technically there are a bunch of common rooms and we’re not even using the main kitchen or dining room, but like, those are the places where we chill.”

“Chill?” Keith frowned.

“It’s where we hang out.” Lance waved his hand dismissively. “Let’s hit the kitchen first, grab some food.”

“Okay.” Keith said, his voice small.

The elevator arrived, and Lance poked the correct button to take them to the kitchen. “What’s galran food like?” he asked after a few quiet seconds. “Altean stuff’s all weird and gross.”

“Of course it is, it’s altean.” Keith said. Lance could practically hear the eye-roll. “Galran food tastes better than anything else, and it’s high protein too.”

“Huh.” Lance absently wished he was wearing his hoodie so he could stick his hands in his pockets. “My mamá would probably have something to say about that. She’ll defend Abuelo’s cooking to the end of time.”

The doors opened, and Lance lead Keith through the hallways until they reached the kitchen. “That’s the dining room.” he gestured to the door as they walked past. “It’s boring when there’s no food so you’ll only find anyone in there at mealtimes. Oh, and Hunk and Coran _will_ hunt you down if you miss a meal.”

“What?” Keith sounded scared, and Lance couldn’t help chuckling. _Aliens_.

“They’ll find you and make sure you’re okay.” he clarified. “I slept through breakfast once and Hunk nearly knocked my door down while I was in the shower.” he chuckled at the memory, and tapped the operation panel for the kitchen door. It was empty, which wasn’t really a surprise considering they _had_ just gotten back from a mission. Everyone else was still showering or napping.

“So, this is the kitchen.” Lance said, gesturing vaguely to the room as he walked over to the food goo dispenser. The shit was gross, but he was hungry enough not to care. “Hungry?” he picked up a plate and held it up, looking at Keith. The half-galra shook his head, and Lance shrugged. “Don’t blame you.” he gave himself a half portion of goo, and grabbed a spoon. “Anyway, kitchen’s cool. There’s a stove, oven, sink, goo machine.” he pointed at each appliance as he named it. “There’s a pantry around here too, but only Hunk and Coran know where it is and they refuse to tell the rest of us.” Lance rolled his eyes, and took a bit of his food goo. Gross, compared to human food, but not bad compared to the ‘traditional Altean meals’ Coran had made a few times.

They went to the common room next, with its nice big couches, and then the training room, which was empty and apparently looked nothing like anything Keith had ever seen. He would’ve called down some of the little moving targets he practiced with, but he was tired and with his helmet on the fritz doing anything in here was probably a terrible idea.

“Aaand, Allura calls this the Paladins’ Quarters, capital letters and everything, but I just call it bed.” he tapped his bayard against the operation panel for his door, and paused. Keith didn’t have a bayard, so he couldn’t open any of these doors. But then again, neither did Shiro, Allura had said a weird name earlier, so... “That one’s yours, by the way.” he pointed at the door across the hall, which Allura had opened once and then never touched again.

“Okay.” Keith said quietly, and went over to touch the pad. Miracle of miracles, it actually worked. “Should I...?”

“I think I’m gonna crash, so you just, like, do whatever.” Lance yawned. If Allura had a problem with him giving Keith the Red Paladin’s quarters, he could just say it was because the rest of them already slept here. “There’s a shower, and feel free to wear anything that fits.” he waved over his shoulder, and let the door shut behind him. Shower, then bed, and he’d ask Hunk about getting his helmet fixed in the morning.

\---

Lance woke up to someone pounding on his door, and sat up with a bleary squint at the clock. He’d only gotten, like, an hour of sleep dammit!

“¿Qué es?” he yelled at the door, sitting up and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Team meeting.” Shiro said from outside, and Lance groaned.

“Gimme, like, ten minutes.”

“You have five.”

Lance stood and grabbed the hairbrush he’d been using since claiming this room, dragging it quickly through the mess which was his hair. Five minutes later he walked into the control deck, and found the rest of Team Voltron standing together discussing something.

“Am I late?” he frowned, walking over to the small cluster. “Shiro said five minutes.”

“As the maximum.” Pidge rolled their eyes.

“Anyway.” Shiro cleared his throat. “Allura has something to say.”

The princess was back in her usual dress, but her hair was still pulled up in a bun. She looked each of them in the eyes, then sighed quietly. “We are all aware of the... hostage, Lance brought aboard.” her tone was level, professional, but still made Lance’s stomach twist. “He is galran, yes, but also at least partially altean. He will be staying with us until further notice as a guest, not a prisoner.”

“Why?” Pidge scowled. “He’s _galran_ , what if he escapes and takes information back to Zarkon?”

“Uh, yeah, Pidge’s got a point.” Hunk said quickly. “Like, he can pilot that little ship really well, and if he’s a hostage won’t he want to go back?”

“Keith won’t do that.” Lance said firmly, drawing everyone’s attention. “And we’re _not_ locking him up.” a hot rage rose in his chest, and he stared Allura right in the eye as he continued. “He’s spent enough of his life having other people tell him what to do. I won’t let him think we’re his new owners.”

“Owners?” Coran asked, moustache twitching.

“Lance, that’s ridiculous.” Allura frowned, but she looked more concerned than confused. “Slavery has been illegal in all civilised parts of the galaxy since, well, since Voltron was created.”

Well, at least he wouldn’t have to punch either of his altean friends in the face.

“Keith wasn’t a hostage, was he.” Hunk asked, also frowning slightly.

“Well, yes and no.” Lance held his hand up and tilted it side to side. “He didn’t want to go, so I told him he was my hostage.”

Pidge and Shiro sighed.

“Lance, is there anything else we need to know about Keith?” Allura asked, her tone cooler than before.

“Yeah, like, does he know anything about Zarkon?” Pidge leaned forward, hazel eyes wide behind their glasses.

“I don’t know.” Lance shook his head, refraining from adding something about how the galran emperor performed in bed. “I found him in Zarkon’s room, though, so he might know something.” Lance glared at the floor as everyone else stiffened. It made him mad just thinking about it, and everyone else was obviously on the same wavelength.

“He’s no older than you three, though.” Allura looked especially troubled. “Galran age of majority is, or at least _was_ , thirty five cycles.”

“Okay, that’s it.” Pidge snarled. “Next time we see Zarkon, I’m finding out how resistant he is to getting fucking tazed.”

“Get in line.” Hunk grumbled.

“So we’re not going to force him to leave the castle-ship, and we’re not going to treat him like a prisoner.” Shiro said, his tone nearly level. “What do we do if it turns out Lance’s judgement of his character was off and he does something?”

“He saved my life!” Lance exclaimed. “Kinda hard to misread that.”

“We can’t rule out the possibility of him being under orders to earn your trust.” Allura said calmly. “But if he endangers Voltron or the castle, we do have the cryo-pods in the lower halls.”

“He won’t.” Lance said confidently.

“Alright, anyone else have pressing news?” Shiro sighed. Nobody said anything. “Then meeting adjourned. Everyone get some sleep, we’ve been up for a long time.”

“You’re telling me.” Hunk yawned. Lance nodded his agreement, and they shuffled off towards the Paladins’ Quarters. Keith’s door was still shut, with the little light over the operation panel indicating it was unlocked. Lance considered poking his head in to say something, but there was no guarantee Keith was even in his room so he just shook his head and tapped his bayard against his own operation panel. The door slid open, and he collapsed onto his bed with a groan.

Sleep came blissfully fast.


	4. Chapter 4

“Morning.” Lance grinned as Keith wandered into the training room, looking quickly back to the moving targets and nailing another two in quick succession.

“Good morning.” Keith said stiffly, and Lance turned the training simulation off after finishing that level.

“So, got a reason for being here, or didja just miss me?” he grinned, dissolving his bayard’s weapon form and tucking it in his hoodie pocket. Seriously, thank god for hoodies with massive pockets.

“Could you teach me how to fight?” Keith asked, shifting from foot to foot in painfully obvious awkwardness. “I know I don’t-”

“Dude, sure.” Lance grinned. “I mean, Shiro’s better at the whole hand to hand thing but I can show you the basics.”

Keith nodded, some of his earlier stiff awkwardness gone, and Lance walked him through the bits he could remember from classes back on Earth. He was correcting Keith’s stance when he noticed the shorter boy’s blush, and oh wow Keith actually was kinda cute wasn’t he? Lance only smirked a little bit before schooling his expression back into something almost neutral. A bit of friendly teasing never hurt anyone, right? “Okay, let’s do grapples next.”

Keith nodded, and Lance got behind him. “So first, you get an arm around ‘em like this.” he looped his arm around Keith’s throat, loose enough to avoid applying significant pressure to any potential bruises. “Gotta make sure you’ve got your weight on the balls of your feet, and then, like, knock your victim’s out from under them.” he nudged at the back of Keith’s heels with the toe of his shoe.

“How do I get out of it?” Keith asked, pressing back against him and oh wow he was half hard already when did that happen?

“Uh...” Lance tried to remember that part of the class, but Keith’s ass was rubbing against his crotch and being incredibly distracting and he was drawing a blank.

“Would this work?” the half-galra asked, bringing a hand down from Lance’s arm to palm him through his jeans.

Lance shivered, and forced himself not to actually tighten his arm into a chokehold. That’d totally ruin the mood. “It might.” he admitted, letting Keith pull away and turn to face him. The shorter boy had found a new shirt which was a size or two too big, sliding off of one shoulder to reveal a smooth stretch of purple skin with dark purple fluff sticking up from his back.

“And I suppose this would be an effective grapple?” Keith asked, his voice pitched low as he stepped directly into Lance’s personal space and looped slender arms around his neck.

“Sí.” he breathed. “I mean, yeah. Yes, absolutely.” he put his hands on Keith’s hips, and leaned in for a kiss. Keith was pliant, easily the best kisser Lance had ever met, and he let the half-galran boy pull him down to sit on the floor with only brief breaks for air. Keith seated himself firmly in Lance’s lap, and when he ground down Lance pulled him in for a deeper kiss.

Keith pulled away from that one with Lance’s lower lip between his razor sharp teeth, making shallow cuts in the tender flesh and drawing a moan from Lance’s throat. They didn’t crash back together after that, foreheads resting together, and Lance noticed that the dark center of Keith’s golden eyes was more prominent than it had been earlier. Those eyes were almost hypnotising, boring into his own plain blue ones, and he only broke eye contact when he felt the button on his jeans being undone.

“Wait.” he grabbed Keith by the wrist, gently so as not to hurt him like he had yesterday, and pulled back to look at the alien teen’s full face. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Keith looked confused, so he elaborated. “I mean, we only just met yesterday, and sex is usually a second or third date thing where I’m from.”

“Does it matter?” Keith frowned, but didn’t make a move to pull free. “You’re interested, so I’ll do it.”

Lance’s eyes widened briefly, and he clenched his teeth against a snarl. Fucking _Zarkon_. “I don’t want to.” he said slowly, struggling to keep his tone neutral. “Sex isn’t something you do because the other person wants to, it’s something two people do together, because they both want it.”

Keith frowned, but didn’t protest when Lance pushed him away and stood up. “If you don’t want me, why did you steal me? Do I belong to one of the others?”

Fuck shooting Zarkon’s dick off, Lance was going to castrate that bastard slowly and painfully. “I didn’t _steal_ you.” his hands curled into fists, and he looked away from Keith. “I got you out of there because it wasn’t right.”

“How so?” Keith looked genuinely confused, and that was the worst part of all this. The poor bastard had never been told that he was worth just as much as his so-called owners, that he had just as much right to freedom and happiness and a life of his own.

“People aren’t property.” Lance did his best to keep the anger out of his tone, but he couldn’t keep his voice level. “You don’t belong to anybody, in the castle or anywhere else, because people can’t _own_ other people.”

“But, I’m...” Keith’s face crinkled with the force of his confusion, and Lance wanted to badly to just scream and punch something. Preferably something with Zarkon’s stupid face on it, because anyone who would reintroduce slavery to the universe and take an underage teen as a consort deserved every ounce of pain coming to him.

“Not anymore.” Lance spat, fists trembling at his sides. “And as soon as we defeat Zarkon, the first thing we’ll do is make slavery illegal again. It’s- gah!” he grabbed at his hair and yanked. “It’s not _right_!  ¿Cómo puede no ver lo jodido que es esto?”

“It’s okay.” Keith said soothingly, stepping up behind Lance and putting one hand on his elbow. The other landed on his stomach, and dragged down towards his waistband. “I really don’t mind, if you want to do anything to me.”

“No.” Lance shook his head and stepped away, fixing the button on his fly. “I’m not going to take advantage of you.” he took another few steps out into the middle of the room and took a deep breath. Anger wouldn’t solve this. “Think about what _you_ want, not what you think we want from you.” he let the tension bleed out of his shoulders, and put on a smile before turning around. “C’mon, I’ll show you how to turn on the hand to hand tutorial mode. It’ll be a better teacher than me by a mile.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know basically nothing about how to actually grapple someone, but tbh I don’t think Lance knows much either. Remember how Keith said that altean food is inferior because it’s altean? Yeah, he applies that logic to everything at the moment. Including himself ;}


	5. Chapter 5

Keith ducked under the training robot’s sweeping arm, and tackled it to the floor. A few punches to the head made its indicator lights go red, and he hopped to his feet to avoid falling in the disposal hole. The castle seemed to be programmed to spit organic matter back out, but the last few times he’d fallen in were far from pleasant. He backed up, and tapped on the wristband thing the Green Paladin had given him to interface with the training room. His recommended level was still 1. He snarled, and stalked back to the middle of the circle.

The lowest of the Paladins had a level 3 recommendation. If he wanted to prove to Allura that he could fight on their level, he had to at least match that. Then she might let him talk to the Red Lion again. The hangar was off-limits to him, but he still found himself pulled towards it when he was idle. Another robot dropped from the ceiling, and he blocked its punch with a grunt. His arms felt like more bruise than untouched skin, but things didn’t happen just because he _wanted_ them to. He let out a battle cry and charged the robot, fist pulled back to punch it in the chest. Metal knuckles caught him under the ribs, and all the air left his lungs as he flew backwards.

“End program.”

Keith groaned, and sat up as well as he could. Champion didn’t like him, which was hardly a surprise considering how Haggar treated her toys. He’d just get up and go, let the Black Paladin train in peace. The robot’s last punch twinged, and he winced as he pressed a hand to the spot. That one would take a while to heal.

“Here.”

Keith looked up, and found Champion holding out a water pack with a straw already inserted. He accepted it, and stiffened when the human sat down in front of him.

“I haven’t been exactly welcoming to you.” Champion said, looking at the floor between them. “It isn’t fair, you were as much a prisoner of Zarkon as I was, but I can’t look at you without seeing...” he trailed off, and Keith carefully set down the water pouch.

“Would it be easier if I looked different?” he asked, trying to remember the precise shade of his altean skintone. His hand rippled, claws changing to flat, useless nails, and he shut his eyes as they changed from flat yellow to a more altean structure. His skin prickled all over, and when he opened his eyes he was no longer purple. He was remarkably close to Champion in colour, where he wasn’t mottled purple and yellow with bruises, and the human’s eyes were wide open.

“You can shapeshift?” the Paladin asked dumbly.

Keith nodded. “If this isn’t good, I can-”

“No, no.” Champion shook his head. “It’s fine. Just caught me by surprise.” he stood, and offered Keith a hand. “I came here to apologize, but I could give you a few pointers, if you’d like.”

“Really?” Keith grabbed the Black Paladin’s wrist, and let himself be pulled to his feet.

“Of course. Do you have a preferred weapon?”

Keith shook his head. “I’ve been using my fists.”

“I can see that.” Champion smiled a little bit, and nodded at Keith’s hands. His knuckles were scraped raw, damp with blood that now oozed red instead of purple. “Let’s give your knuckles a rest, though. I’ll show you where the weapons rack is.”

\---

Shiro activated a level 0 robot, and watched the half-altean boy circle it with his latest practice weapon at the ready. He’d blindly charged the first half dozen or so, getting knocked out of the ring more often than not, but with a blunt-edged sword in hand he was more cautious. Shiro wondered if he’d seen the effects of a galran officer’s sword first hand, then shook that thought away. The robot lashed out, the rounded edge of its blade striking Keith on one shoulder, then the other.

“Guard!” Shiro reminded the teen, wincing as Keith took another blow. The kid lifted his weapon, and the robot’s blade struck it with a clang. Keith stilled, his ears fluffing up, then steadied his stance and smiled. The robot swung again, and again, and Keith blocked every one.

“Move your feet.” Shiro suggested, and Keith began to circle again. There was a feline grace to his movements, golden eyes sharp and needle-toothed smile sharper. Even with his pale skin, he looked every inch a galran soldier.

The robot turned, trying to face Keith, but the teen leapt sideways, rolled, and popped to his feet behind the training dummy. The tip of his sword burst through the robot’s chest, and Shiro took a step back from the control console. The robot fell when Keith withdrew the sword, sparking wires spilling from the ruptured metal, and Shiro swallowed the bile rising in his throat. It wasn’t real, wasn’t alive. There were no death throes, just a machine turning off.

“End program.” he said, forcing his voice to remain steady.

“I like this one.” Keith was smiling, running a hand over the scuffed flat of his blade.

The Red Paladin’s bayard, Shiro suddenly remembered, took the form of a sword. Keith twirled the weapon, and promptly dropped it on his foot. The teen yelped, and hopped up and down on his uninjured foot while shaking the other in the air. Shiro chuckled, and managed to relax a little. Keith was just a kid, one who had been through far too much and was only just learning how to be a person instead of a possession.

“It fits you.” Shiro nodded. “I can teach you some more hand to hand if you want, but I’d trust the tutorial mode for learning how to swing that.” he inclined his head towards the sword in Keith’s hand. Allura could probably teach him too, but he wasn’t sure how well she’d take his asking.

“I’d... like, that.” Keith said haltingly, fingers curling around the blade of his sword. “Learning more from you, Champion.”

Shiro had to physically suppress a wince. “Shiro is fine, really.”

“Oh, okay.” Keith ducked his head. “Sorry, Shiro.”

“It’s alright.” Shiro walked over to the abandoned water pouch from earlier, and picked it up. “We all make mistakes.” he handed the pouch over, and Keith’s eyes rippled back to flat galran yellow. Except, they weren’t flat. There was a hint of darkness in the middle, an approximation of a pupil. Shiro realized he was staring, and looked away as Keith’s eyes rippled back to human-like.

“Sorry.” Keith said quietly, taking the water pouch from his hand. “This form is harder to hold than my other one.”

“Thank you.” Shiro turned towards the door, his prosthetic arm creaking slightly with the effort of remaining apparently at-ease. Keith said nothing in reply, and Shiro left the room without looking back.


	6. Chapter 6

Keith tilted his head back, taking in the high vaulted ceilings of the hallway. His mental map of the castle was about as bad as his map of the command ship had been, but here he wasn’t confined to a small set of rooms. He’d gotten his recommended robot setting up to level 2, and didn’t really have any sort of responsibilities, so he’d wound up wandering. It was kinda nice, not having to worry about someone yelling at him for being outside of the Emperor’s rooms without his master, but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel like any moment one of the Paladins was going to tell him he didn’t belong here. He turned a corner, and stopped just before stepping on a screwdriver.

“Oh, Keith!” Coran beamed, the sight more than a tad unnerving. “Kick that torque optimizer over, would you?”

“What?”

The pale, skinny legs sticking out of the wall kicked at the altean man. “He means the screwdriver.” the Green Paladin’s voice echoed a little, but was still perfectly distinct. Keith picked up the screwdriver, and walked down the hall to hand it over.

“Alright, I got those wires you asked fo- oh, hey Keith.” the Yellow Paladin grinned, setting down a box of wires. “Whatcha doin’?”

Keith shrugged. “Exploring. This place is huge.”

“Indeed.” Coran said wistfully, and Keith almost winced. Right, this ship was a castle, it had probably been the center of altean politics before the war. It was huge because it had to fit a shitton of people.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked quickly.

“Well, the castle of lions is over ten thousand years old.” Coran said proudly. “We’re performing maintenance on some highly degraded luminosensory circuits.”

“I told you, it’s definitely the chronometer that’s malfunctioning, not the photosensors!” the Yellow Paladin cried, throwing his hands in the air.

The Green Paladin groaned, and slid out of the service vent they were half inside of. “The lights in this hallway keep acting up, so we’re poking at wires until we figure out why.”

“Oh. Is that why you’re in the wall?”

“Yes.” the smallest of the Paladins scowled at Coran. “Because this moron can’t change size when he shapeshifts, so I’m the only one small enough.” they stopped scowling suddenly, and looked back at Keith. “Unless you can shrink. Can you shrink? I know you can grown, since you were definitely taller the first time we met.”

“Ooh, ooh, how far can your shift?” the Yellow Paladin asked, eyes alight. “Like, when Allura made herself look like a galra she couldn’t do the ears.” he put his hands on the side of his head, presumably mimicking your ears.

“Or the teeth or eyes, actually.” the Green Paladin mused.

“I can do that.” Keith said, and shut his eyes to focus on shifting. His skin prickled into a different colour, and he felt the weird sensation of his eyes changing into their more altean configuration. His fingers tingled as his claws faded into blunt, useless nails, and he exhaled as he compacted his skeletal structure by a few inches. He hated shifting smaller, it took more energy than his usual superficial changes and made him feel even weaker, but when he opened his eyes the Paladins and Coran seemed delighted. That was good, that was worth the extra energy.

“Your hair looks so long.” the Green Paladin said, tugging gently on a lock which fell almost to his waist. “And your ears look even more purple against human skin.”

“We need to document this.” the Yellow Paladin declared, pulling out a rectangular thing which seemed to be a communication device of some sort. “Say cheese!” he beamed, pulling Keith in with one arm and holding the rectangle at arms length. There was a bright flash, and Keith staggered back rubbing his eyes as soon as he was released.

“Your technique is amazing.” Coran said earnestly. “I haven’t seen such a skilled shift in, why, in ten thousand years!”

Keith shrugged, scratching at an itch under his collar. “I get a lot of practice.”

Silence filled the hall, and Keith felt even smaller than his compacted form. He’d done it again, said something wrong.

“Hey, Keith.” the Green Paladin abruptly grabbed the Yellow Paladin’s communication device and held it out so Keith could see the screen. He looked startled in the picture, eyes wide and mouth open in a yelp, ears flicked back almost against his skull. His skin had come out closer to the Yellow Paladin’s colour than his altean one, and if you ignored the galran ears the two of them looked almost like they could be related. “Your eyes are shiny here, does that mean you’ve got good night vision?”

“Um, yes?” he answered hesitantly. Was this one of those things where he was asked a question without a correct answer? The Green Paladin seemed like the type of human to do that.

“Awesome.” the Green paladin pulled off their headlamp, and dropped it in the box of wires. Keith braced himself for a blow, but all the small human did was turn and jab a finger at the Yellow Paladin’s chest. “Make _him_ do your grunt work, I’m gonna go keep working on that code.”

“It’s not grunt work!” the Yellow Paladin exclaimed, snatching his communication device back.

“I was literally lying on my back poking things with a screwdriver.” the Green Paladin said flatly. “Make Keith do it, he’ll learn something.”

“It’s also delicate work.” Coran wheedled, grabbing the Green Paladin by the sleeve.

“I can be delicate.” Keith said quickly. “I’ll do it.”

“Here.” the Green Paladin lobbed a screwdriver at Keith, and he caught it easily. “Poke what they tell you to, and try not to get zapped.”

Keith looked from the tool in his hand to the altean and human still looking at him. The Green Paladin had already turned and started walking away down the hall. Coran sighed, and gestured at the hole in the wall. “Climb on in.”

Keith laid on his back, and pushed himself into the service duct. It was a tight fit, and he exhaled quietly as he forced himself to shrink even further, narrowing his shoulders until he could worm in easily.

“You should see an open panel in the ceiling.” Coran said.

“I see it.” Keith replied, and lifted the screwdriver to prod at one of the exposed metal nubs.

“Alright, now you’ll want to-”

Sparks arced between the tip of the tool in his hand and the exposed silvery metal above him. Keith yelped as electricity shot down his arm, and when he dropped the screwdriver it clattered away in the dark. There was silence for a few agonizing ticks, Keith biting back any further sounds of pain, then the Yellow Paladin chuckled.

“Guess you found the faulty bit.”

“Sorry.” Keith grimaced, doing his best not to sound pained.

“Don’t be.” Coran sounded like he was smiling, despite Keith’s mistake. “You found the piece we need to replace in one go.”

“Okay, there should be a little metal ring around the base of that one you touched.” the Yellow Paladin said, and a blue glow at his feet told Keith the human had crouched down in front of the mouth of the service duct. “We’ve got about five minutes before this block of fuses resets, so spin that counter-clockwise and pull it down to expose the wiring inside.”

Keith frowned, and hesitantly pinched the noted piece of metal between his thumb and index finger. Twisting it to the right didn’t work, but after a moment twisting it left made it yield. The knob which had shocked him dropped from the low ceiling freely after a few spins, and Keith was mildly surprised that he didn’t wince when it landed on his chest. It was hard to track the progress of a healing bruise when his usual form didn’t show the contusions like his altean one did, but the ones on his ribs seemed to be mostly okay now.

“You got it off?” the Yellow Paladin asked, and Keith nodded before remembering that humans has terrible night vision, and he was stuffed head-first in a bit of ductwork anyways.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, so there should be some wires attached to the bit you just removed. I need you to look at them, and tell me if any look damaged.”

Five minutes later, Keith slid out of the service duct and squinted as the lights came back on, releasing most of his shapeshift so he went back to first his normal size, then his usual smooth purple skin and golden galran eyes. When he sat up, Coran looked pleased as punch and the Yellow Paladin was straight up beaming.

“That seems to have fixed it.” Coran said cheerily, turning a datapad to show Keith a grid of red and green blocks. “The section we’re in is green now.”

“Great job, dude.” the Yellow Paladin slapped Keith on the shoulder, but despite his size and Keith’s mistakes he didn’t strike hard enough to hurt. “Next time Pidge bails, though, you’re wearing the head lamp.”

Keith nodded, and as he sat there listening to the human and altean argue about what to fix next he realized his chest felt strange. Not bad, but certainly weird. Light, and bright, and... warm. It was a good weird, one he could get used to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine a Pidge-sized Keith. Just, imagine that. You’re welcome.


	7. Chapter 7

Keith grunted, skidding back along the floor of the training room with the force of the training dummy’s blow. His whole body ached but he pushed himself forward again, sword raised to parry the robot’s blow and get in close enough for a lethal stab. It stilled, inner lights dimming, and Keith staggered back as it slumped to the floor.

“End program.” a voice said firmly, and he stilled with his wrist halfway up to check his recommended opponent level. It was the Princess. They hadn’t interacted much, apart from mealtimes, but he still had to ask her about talking to Red again. The Lion was like a constant gentle pull at the back of his mind, and Allura was the only one who could grant him permission to talk to it again. But he wasn’t sure how to ask her. Someone like him didn’t get to just ask for things, after all. Much less from royalty.

“That was quite a performance.” she said, tone neutral. Keith straightened up, every inch of his skin prickling. In his experience, a tone and statement like that were precursor to punishment. His grip on the training sword shook, and he forced himself to release it. If he’d done something wrong, defending himself against her was out of the question.

The Princess walked into his line of sight, her long white hair pulled up and back in a tightly braided bun, and an unfamiliar expression crossed her face. “Keith?” she reached out, but her hand stopped in mid-air when he tensed. “Is something wrong?”

“Of course not, Princess.” he replied quickly, keeping his head down and his gaze on the hem of her skirt. He snuck a glance at his wrist display, and something warm ignited in his chest at the sight of the number 3. He’d done it, he was equal to a Paladin. But he couldn’t ask, no matter how much he wanted to speak to her Lion again. Not when it was the only tie to her father she had left. Not when asking for a bond with her Lion was tantamount to asking for her position as its Paladin.

“You seem tense.” she sounded like she was frowning, and Keith had to remind himself to keep breathing. Lance had been adamant that none of them would touch him, _use_ him the way the Emperor had, but there were still myriad ways for a Princess to discipline her subjects if they displeased her.

“It’s nothing, Princess.” Keith said, forcing a small smile for a moment.

“If you say so.” she said slowly, and Keith chanced a peek up at her face. She looked contemplative, which was rarely an expression that boded well for him. “The mice tell me you have an affinity for the sword.” she inclined her head towards his dropped training weapon, and Keith quickly nodded.

“Yes, Princess.”

“Would you care to tell me what’s driven you to pursue such proficiency?” she asked, skirts swishing as she turned and walked towards the weapons rack.

“I-” Keith choked on the words, and pressed his palms against his thighs to stop his hands from shaking. She had asked, and he had to answer truthfully. “I wanted to speak to your Lion again, Princess.”

Her footsteps didn’t pause. “I suspected as much.” her voice was laced with disappointment, and Keith swallowed a swell of fear as he glanced up to see her taking a sword from the weapons rack. It was shorter than the one he used on the training dummies, with a curved blade that reminded him far too much of the weapons carried by high-ranked galran soldiers. He’d seen those blades eviscerate prisoners, aliens even lower than him without a drop of galra blood in their veins. The Emperor had made him watch as they died, as a reminder that he could meet his end in a similar fashion should he fail to please.

Keith shuddered at the memory, swallowing bile that had risen in his throat, but aside from that action held perfectly still as the Princess of Altea approached him with the weapon in her hands. If she didn’t want him threatening the bond she had with the Red Lion, she was well within her rights as ruler to kill him. He wasn’t even one of her subjects, technically. Too altean for the Galra Empire, too galran for the Kingdom of Altea. He didn’t belong anywhere, didn’t belong to anyone. He wouldn’t be surprised if she ran him through and shoved him out of an airlock, get rid of the dead weight and security risk.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her tone sharp but shockingly without reprimand. “Pick up your sword.”

Keith crouched to pick up his dropped blade, and the Princess tipped his chin up with the end of hers. “How am I supposed to test your skills if you won’t look at me?” she grinned, pink and blue eyes crinkling at the edges. “I’ll give you first strike.” she fell into a defensive stance, and Keith froze. Strike, the Princess?

“I’m- sorry, Princess.” he said haltingly, his mouth not quite working in tandem with his brain. “I can’t do that.”

“Too tired?” she frowned, no disappointment in her face.

“No, not at all, Princess.” he said quickly, looking down again. “I just- I can’t strike you. It wouldn’t be right.”

“If you truly want to prove yourself equal to my Paladins, then look me in the eye when you speak to me.” the Princess said firmly. It was undeniably an order, but every fibre of Keith’s being shied away from the thought. The Princess sighed, obviously disappointed, and her sword swung down to rest at her side. “You’ve impressed me in these past weeks, Keith.” 

Keith’s stomach turned, and he held himself as still as possible in an effort to disguise his shaking. Lance had promised, yes, but what weight did the promises of a soldier hold against the will of a ruler? All of his owners, as far back as he could remember, had been _impressed_ by him, by how well he could hide everything wrong about his appearance, by how well he served them. Even the Emperor had seen him drawing in customers and been impressed. It made sense that his latest owner would share the sentiment of those before her. He tried to focus as the Princess kept talking, but it was a losing battle.

He released his sword, letting it clatter against the floor, and lifted a hand to grip at his collar. His skin itched, his eyes prickled, and he took a deep breath. Not now, not when he’d finally maybe done something right in his latest owner's eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on smooth purple skin, on flat golden eyes, on claws with the potential to rend flesh from bone if they were allowed to grow sharp.

“Keith? Keith, can you hear me?” the Princess was speaking, her hands on his shoulders, and he couldn’t force himself to relax under her touch but he could answer her. He could do that, at least.

“Yes, Princess.” he said, voice shaking.

“I’m so sorry. I said something, didn’t I?”

“Impressed.” Keith replied with automatic honesty, forcing another shaking breath into his lungs. His eyes felt dry at least, and he looked up as much as he dared before smiling, removing his hand from his collar. “My apologies, Princess. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Upset _me_?” she exclaimed, grasping both his hands between her own. “Keith, I’m not upset I’m _worried_. You have the potential to be a Paladin, but if you can’t trust that we won’t hurt you then I cannot in good conscience allow you to be one.”

Keith wanted to shrink back, to tell her that he didn’t want to be a Paladin he just wanted to help the Red Lion, but he remained still and silent instead. It didn’t make sense. Why would the Princess be worried about him? She didn’t even like him, she was just impressed, just like all the other owners he’d had.

“Keith, would you be more comfortable if I looked different?” she asked quietly. “You take on a more altean appearance at meals, and I know that’s for Shiro’s sake.” her thumb rubbed gently over his. “I can’t do anything about my ears, or my eyes, but...” she trailed off, and the hands encasing his turned purple. The hem of her skirts puddled on the floor around her feet a bit, and when Keith glanced up he found that they were now precisely the same height. “If you would feel more comfortable with me looking like this, I can hold a transformation of this level for a few hours.”

Keith opened his mouth, but no words came out. He couldn’t even look away from the Princess’s face, though he knew he should. “Why?” he asked, and distantly he knew to expect retribution for staring, for asking a question that was none of his business, but the altean Princess smiled and curled her fingers around his hands.

“Because I am tired of this distrust between us." the Princess sighed. "You are galran, but you are also altean, and you have the potential to be a Paladin. I would like us to be friends, if nothing else.”

Keith blinked, then blinked again. Friends? Halfbreeds like him didn’t have _friends_. He’d had coworkers, but who in their right mind would socialize with someone so visibly, well, _wrong_? “Friends.” he said flatly.

“Yes.” the Princess nodded, her smile fading into some softer emotion Keith couldn’t name. “I’ve been watching you, and you seem to have adjusted better than I dared hope. I think, perhaps, you’re ready to begin training with the other Paladins. I was thinking to give you one last test before deciding, but your training speaks for itself.”

“I couldn’t ask that of you, Princess.” Keith said quickly, finally remembering his manners and looking down.

“Then consider it a request.” the Princess didn’t release his hands, her purple thumbs still rubbing over his. “Twice a skip, I would like you to participate in group training exercises with the human Paladins, to build trust between you and them. In exchange, on those days you will be allowed to enter the Lions’ hangar and speak with Red. Will you do that for me?” 

Keith glanced up, a quick inhale hissing between his teeth. Train, with the Paladins? He was being allowed to train with the Paladins, and if he did he would also be allowed to speak to the Lion which kept pulling him towards the hangar? “Of course, Princess.” he blurted, ducking his head. “Thank you, I-”

“There’s nothing to thank me for.” she laughed, removing her hands from his and lifting his head with a gentle palm on his cheek. “And you needn’t bow your head to me, or speak so formally.”

“Of course, Pri-” Keith fought down the urge to look away, and instead focused his eyes on the jewel in her circlet. “Of course, Allura.”

Her soft expression brightened into a smile, and she bent to pick up both of their dropped weapons. “It’s late. We could both use some sleep. Why don’t you go on to bed, I’ll put these away.” she turned and started towards the weapons rack before Keith could object, growing back to her true height as she went and letting the purple seep out of her skin to leave it smooth and brown. Keith turned and numbly left the training room, even the ache of hard exercise a distant thing. The Princess wanted him to be a Paladin. Him, a halfbreed, a nobody, as one of the elite soldiers who vexed the Emperor on a regular basis?

Well, when he thought about it that way, he kinda liked the sound of it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus fuck, poor Keith is messed up. This did not go _at all_ in the direction I intended it to, but I rather like this result more. Skips, for reference, are the altean equivalent of weeks. They’re ten days long.


	8. Chapter 8

Keith groaned, and pushed his stupid hair back with one hand as he flopped down on his bed. It hadn’t been a problem when he rarely left the Emperor’s rooms, but he wasn’t confined to those anymore. Now there was a whole castle to wander and very few rooms were off-limits. Now there was training with the Paladins. Now it kept getting in his face all the time, and tangled something awful under the grey-accented helmet Coran had procured for him to wear when he was in the training room. He was starting to hate the stuff, but part of him shied away from the thought of binding or parting with it. The Emperor loved it, loved alternating between gentle finger-combing strokes and rough pulls that had half of Keith’s scalp lighting up in pain. His previous owners had enjoyed it as well, along with many of his customers, and Keith roughly shook his head. He didn’t want to think about them, any of them. What he wanted was for his hair to stop getting in the way so damn much.

Keith glanced over to the dresser drawers, where a pair of scissors laid. He could cut it, he realized suddenly. He could do whatever he wanted to his hair and there was nobody here to punish him for it, nobody who could or _would_ strike him for daring to alter his appearance without permission. It was his body, his hair, and now it was his decision. Keith rolled to his feet, and grabbed the scissors up in one hand on his way into the bathroom.

He stood in front of the mirror for a long moment before pulling half his hair over each shoulder and holding the scissors up to it. How short was short enough? He didn’t want it like Lance’s, shorter than the fur which covered large patches of his skin. Nor did he want it like Hunk’s, long enough to hang in his eyes without being long enough to properly tie back. He certainly didn’t want it like Shiro’s, and honestly he doubted his ability to cut that evenly around his own head. Pidge, he decided after a long minute. He’d cut it to around shoulder length now, and after dinner he’d take the time to make it shorter and neater.

The snip of scissors was a uniquely satisfying sound, and the physical resistance of his hair against the paired blades felt almost as good. Snip, snip, snip went the scissors, and long locks of deep purple hair fell to curl on the floor around his feet. The ends of it tickled the nape of his neck, and he twisted a lock around his finger with a slow smile. On second thought, maybe he wouldn’t cut it as short as Pidge’s. This was a good length, his head felt a bit weirdly light but it was nice. Freeing. Keith shook his head violently, making his newly short hair whip about like he hadn’t been able to do since he was a kit, and when he looked back at his reflection he found himself beaming.

It was still a bit too long in the front, though. Chunks hung in his face, no longer held behind his shoulders by their own sheer weight, and he looked down at the scissors in his hand. He’d just cut the front short, so it stayed out of his eyes. Bangs, he was pretty sure Hunk had called them. A few quick snips cleared his vision of any stray strands, and Keith grinned at his reflection as he shortened up the rest of the front a bit to sorta match. He changed his skin to a more reddish purple, just for the hell of it, and the bright warmth in his chest intensified. If the Emperor saw him now, well, he might not even recognize him!

He was going to keep his hair like this now, short enough in front to stay out of his eyes, long enough in back to play with when he was bored. Or maybe to let someone else play with, if he chose. Lance in particular, he could imagine letting play with his hair. Keith grinned, and hummed a snatch of some melody which had been stuck in Lance’s head during mental synchronisation training and was now, consequently, stuck in everyone’s head. He probably had enough time to sweep all the cut hair into the trash, and then change out of his flight suit into something more casual for dinner.

Allura had her identical dresses, the human Paladins had their clothes from Earth... maybe he should pick an outfit he could stand to wear every day, too.

\---

Lance glanced at the empty chair at the table, then frowned down at his food goo. Keith was so punctual it was a little bit irritating, and in all his time on the castle he’d never been late to a meal. He’d been fine at the end of training, no grievous injury which would keep him from the crapshoot of Hunk and Coran’s dinner collaborations, so where was he?

Lance reached for his glass of water, and glanced at the door as he took a gulp. It swished open, and Lance immediately regretted his decision as he tried to inhale and water went down the wrong way. The resulting spray more than misted Hunk, and when Lance was done coughing he looked up to see that no, his eyes hadn’t been deceiving him. Keith had cut his hair. It looked atrocious, choppy and uneven against the collar of his cropped jacket, and oh god were those _fingerless gloves_ on his hands?

“Lance, what the fuck?” Hunk whined, wiping water and spit from his face.

“Don’t ask me, ask him!” Lance gestured to Keith, who, okay, at least seemed to have finally discovered clothes that weren’t a minimum of one size too big. “Dude, what happened to your hair?!”

“It was getting in the way, so I cut it.” Keith shrugged, as if the universe were really so simple.

“I could have given you some hair ties, if you needed them.” Allura frowned, reaching under the sleeve of her dress and pulling out- a pale blue hair tie. Lance wasn’t sure why he was surprised. After all, Salome was never without at least three of the damn things on xir wrist.

Keith shook his head. “It still would’ve been a pain.” he reached up and twirled one of the longer back locks around his index finger. “I like it short.”

Keith grinned, but not even seeing the alien teen light up could get Lance to crack a smile. “You have a mullet.” he said disbelievingly.

“A what?” Keith frowned, more confused than annoyed.

“A mullet.” Lance said again. “You cut your hair into a fucking _mullet_?”

“Oh come on, Lance.” Hunk laughed, slinging an arm around his shoulders and getting his hoodie wet. “It’s not _that_ bad.”

“It kinda is.” Pidge winced sympathetically. “Might wanna get that, like, trimmed?” they gestured at the front of their head. “It’s really choppy.” Lance groaned and slumped forward, pillowing his head on crossed arms.

“Where are we gonna find a hair salon in _space_?”

“Actually.” Coran piped up from near the head of the table. “I’m pretty handy with a pair of scissors myself. I could neaten that up for you after dinner, if you like.”

Keith grinned, and Lance grumbled against the table. It wasn’t fair, how fucking cute he managed to be even with the universe’s shittiest mullet. Stupid adorable aliens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Keith looks like Keith! Mullet and jacket and all. I put this poor kid through so much, he deserves to be happy about this. Even if Lance complains about him looking stupid and starts calling him mullet head.


	9. Chapter 9

“Alright, Paladins. I think that’s enough synchronisation training for today. Headsets off.”

It was always weird to hear someone talking at the tail end of a mental bonding session, especially when the Lions were involved, and as he took off the white and blue headset Keith relaxed a bit. He much preferred having Red in his head to Red and four nosy humans. Certain memories were better left forgotten, buried under the minutia of day to day life, and the Red Lion seemed to understand that. Humans, however, were much harder to dissuade.

Keith itched to throw his headset at Lance, but held back. Princess Allura was standing in the middle of their semicircle, waiting for all of them to pay attention to her. So instead Keith sat up straighter and folded his hands in his lap, keeping his gaze fixed on the hem of her dress. No matter how many times she said it was okay to look her in the eyes, it still felt disrespectful.

“You all performed admirably today.” she said, and Keith’s skin prickled with the sense of an incoming ‘but’. “And in light of Keith’s continued effect on your teamwork, I have an announcement.” she drew her bayard, and every muscle in Keith’s body tensed. She wouldn’t execute him here and now, would she? The Princess held her bayard out, towards him, and Keith stared at it blankly.

“Keith, I hereby cede the bayard of the Red Paladin to you.” she said smoothly, her tone very formal and respectful. “You have proved yourself worthy, and I am proud to call you one of my Paladins.” her mouth curled into a smile, and Keith numbly rose to his feet at urging from Lance on his right and Shiro on his left. The weapon felt surprisingly light in his hand, and almost the very tick his pale fingers wrapped around it the bayard activated.

The sword was longer than the practice ones, and a bit heavier, with an angular flare towards the base and a completely different grip, but it felt... right. He rested the blade on his left hand, and looked from it to Princess Allura. “Thank you, Princess.” he said, breaking the hush which had fallen over the room. “I-”

“Keith.” she placed her hand over his, curling his fingers tighter around the bayard’s grip even as the blade dematerialized. “There is nothing to thank me for.”

“Alright, Keith made Paladin!” Lance yelled, and it was so abrupt and so close to Keith’s ear that he nearly spun to lash out at the sudden noise. Arms wrapped tight around his chest, and Lance’s chin tucked over his shoulder. Keith’s whole body tensed at the sudden contact, and then Hunk lunged across the semicircle and swept Pidge and Princess Allura up in his arms, squishing both of them against Keith and Lance.

“Group hug!” the Yellow Paladin announced loudly, and Pidge laughed as they reached out to grab the front of Shiro’s shirt, pulling him in as well. Keith was pretty sure he didn’t breathe again until the Paladins backed off, though Lance kept an arm around his shoulders. Shiro ruffled his hair, and Keith managed to relax a little bit at the gesture.

“Good job.” Shiro said simply, one side of his mouth pulling up in an undeniably fond smile. Keith grinned back, and Pidge punched him in the shoulder.

“Keep up your learning curve and you’ll be a better Paladin than Lance in no time!” they said brightly.

“Hey!” Lance exclaimed, releasing Keith to lunge at the Green Paladin, who scrambled backwards. “Take that back, you little duendecillo!”

Keith chuckled, something warm igniting in his chest. These humans were, well, fun. Fun to watch, to be around, to interact with. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d had fun, living in the Empire. And now he was part of their team, the ancient altean weapon in his hands proof of that fact. Thinking about it, he honestly couldn’t say that he would’ve preferred a galran officer’s blade.

\---

“Hey, Keith.”

Keith paused, turning to look at Shiro.

“Could I talk to you for a sec?”

Keith nodded, and followed Shiro over to an alcove between the base of two of the elegant arches which lined this hall. “Is it about me becoming a Paladin?” he asked, curling still-pale fingers around the bayard Princess Allura had given him.

“No.” Shiro shook his head. “It’s something I’ve been wondering for a while, actually.” his dark eyes fixed on Keith’s altean-structured golden ones, then flicked down to his throat, his collar. “Why do you still wear that thing?”

Keith lifted a hand, and curled his fingers under the thick fabric. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Shiro sighed and brushed his hair back with one hand, though the white tuft certainly didn’t stay back. “You’re not a slave anymore. You don’t have to wear a collar.”

Keith gripped his collar tighter, pulling it away from his skin just a little bit. Even thinking about taking it off felt wrong, like someone was going to smack him senseless for daring to entertain the very idea. “It just, feels right.” he said quietly, running his thumbnail over his pulse. “I think...” he paused, and Shiro laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I think I’ll keep it on until we win.”

Shiro’s eyebrows went up, and Keith tightened his grip until his claws dug into the heel of his hand. “When we defeat the Em-” Keith stopped, and took a deep breath. He was a Paladin now, he should call their enemy by the same name as the rest of them. “When we defeat Zarkon, I want him to recognize me.” a smile pulled at his lips, but he resisted it. Shiro was scared of his teeth, and he couldn’t change those. “I’ll take it off then.” he said firmly. “Once he knows who beat him, I’ll make sure he knows he can never have me again.”

His voice came out stronger than he’d expected, the words ringing with a conviction that surprised even him, and Shiro smiled.

“I can get behind that.”


	10. Chapter 10

Keith snarled, and drove his fist into the side of the training dummy’s head. It didn’t make any _sense_. Red had been fine with him just a few days ago, but now that he was her Paladin she got all fussy? He ducked the robot’s wide swing, and tackled it to the ground for further pummelling. Sure, he still needed to get better with his bayard, but it felt so much more satisfying to slam his bare knuckles against the robot’s metal skin again and again until it shut down.

“End program.” a voice said from behind him, and Keith leapt back to avoid being pulled into the hole it dropped through. He spun, and saw Lance standing there. Could’ve been worse, could’ve been one of the adults.

“What was that for?” he asked, claws digging into the heels of his palms.

“That robot was covered in purple.” Lance frowned, closing the distance between them and taking one of Keith’s hands in both of his. “Did Shiro not tell you about wrapping your hands?”

Keith pulled his hand back and held it close to his chest. “What’s it to you?”

“What’s it to me?” Lance frowned. “You’re bleeding.”

“And?”

“Just, come with me to Medical?” Lance sighed, and it sounded more like a request than an order. “I know enough first aid to patch you up.” he turned to walk away, and Keith hesitated for a moment before following suit, grabbing his jacket from the hook he’d hung it on.

Medical, as it turned out, was an examiner’s office with one patient’s chair in the middle of the room and counters along three of the four walls. Keith perched on the edge of one the counters as Lance rummaged in various drawers across the room, and looked at his knuckles. He exhaled, and willed his skin and blood to change to their altean colours. Sure enough, his fingers were bruised from first to second knuckle and his arms were mottled yellow and purple as far up as he could see. He pulled the sleeve of his jacket back down, and willed himself back to purple.

“Got ‘em.” Lance said, walking over with a roll of bandages. “Hold out a hand.”

Keith did, and Lance began wrapping his knuckles in the soft, sterile fabric. Keith ducked his head, a strange feeling swelling in his chest, and when Lance took his other hand he broke the silence.

“Have you ever had trouble connecting with Blue?”he asked, rubbing one heel against his ankle.

“Oh, yeah.” Lance made a pfff noise, waving one hand dismissively. “Still do, sometimes.”

“What’s, well, helped you bond with her?” Keith asked, glancing up through the fringe that hung down into his face.

“Well, meditating and stuff, but mostly?” Lance cut and taped down the end of the second bandage. “Just, being honest. And hey, Allura said Red is kinda temperamental, remember? She’ll warm up to you soon enough.”

A pair of far more familiar feelings rose in Keith’s chest, the emotion he couldn’t name giving way to shame and fear. He’d kept this secret from them all, deliberately hidden it during synchronization training, and sure Allura had given him a bayard but she could still take it back at any time.

“Do you prefer it when I look galran, or altean?” he asked after another moment of silence, as Lance put away the bandages and scissors and medical tape.

Lance shrugged. “I mean, it’s a neat trick, but I don’t really have a preference.” he turned around with a smile on his face. “Like I told my baby sister Viv, you’re you on the inside no matter how you look outside.”

Keith shut his eyes. If he did this there would be no going back, but there would also be no more lies. At least between the two of them. He inhaled, held it for a tick, then began a long, slow exhale. Releasing his transformation felt like stretching after being still for a long time, like cool water spreading across his skin and nails and eyes, and he felt strangely light, like just after cutting his hair but across his whole body instead of just his head. Lance gasped, and Keith cracked open an eye to look. He knew what the human Paladin was seeing, skin coloured in streaky blotches of two disparate colours, awkwardly thick nails which weren’t anywhere near thick enough to be called claws, dull golden eyes with a pupil like a black hole in the middle. Not galran, not altean, but a halfbreed abomination who couldn’t manage to look like he belonged to either species.

“You’ve been shapeshifted this entire time?” Lance asked breathlessly, hands falling to his side. Keith nodded, and pulled his galran transformation back on like a cloak of needles. “But, doesn’t that take a lot of effort?”

Keith shrugged, scratching the side of his neck just below his collar. “It used to, but I got good at it really quick. Barely even notice anymore.”

“Could I see it again?” Lance stepped closer, and Keith tensed. “Not if it makes you uncomfortable, I just- I'd like see your skin again. It looks cool.” he offered a hesitant smile, and after a moment Keith let his skin fade back to its natural appearance. Lance gently traced one of the pale blotches on his face, which looked even paler while his blood ran purple as it was doing now, but the silence didn’t last.

“Can I scratch behind your ears?” Lance asked, lifting a hand to hover just behind Keith’s ear. Keith thought for a moment, then nodded. Shiro had ruffled his hair a few times, but he couldn’t recall anybody ever scratching behind his ears.

Lance’s fingers dug through the thick tuft of fur behind his ear until they met skin, and Keith couldn’t help but relax. Lance stopped for a moment to hop up and sit next to Keith on the counter, then went right back to scratching gently at the back of his ear. He leaned into the pressure, eyes fluttering shut, and slowly melted against Lance’s chest until he was halfway lying in the human’s lap. A purr rumbled out of his chest, and Lance gasped quietly. But he didn’t stop scratching, so Keith didn’t particularly care.

“Wow.” Lance chuckled, his torso shaking against Keith’s shoulders. “You’re like a big cat.”

Keith attempted a shrug, and as Lance chuckled again he let the rest of his galran appearance fade away. This was nice. He could get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Keith can change the colour of his blood. Only between red and purple, though, and only while it’s in his body. Once it’s been spilled, it will remain whatever colour it was when it was spilled. 
> 
> And now, time for a quick science lesson! Human blood is red because our oxygen binding protein is hemoglobin. Galra blood is (at least in my headcanon) purple, and scientifically speaking this is because they have hemerythrin for their binding protein. Now, red blood turns dark purple when there’s no oxygen in it. That’s why our bruises are dark, because deoxygenated blood is pooling under the skin where capillaries were broken by the impact. Blood coloured with hemerythrin, on the other hand, is basically colourless when deoxygenated.
> 
> This means that galra don’t visibly bruise, and neither does Keith when his blood is purple, regardless of the colour of his skin at the moment. Doesn’t mean the bruises don’t exist, doesn’t mean they don’t hurt, just means nobody can see them.


	11. Chapter 11

Keith groaned, pulling off his helmet and slumping back against the wall. Lance and Pidge were just flopped down on the floor, heads resting on an equally flopped Hunk, and Keith distantly wondered how far above the human norm Shiro was to look mostly unaffected. The Black Paladin was sweaty, yeah, but he wasn’t exhausted to the point of collapse like the others.

“Good work, team.” Shiro said, and he only barely sounded out of breath. Keith couldn’t believe he was actually a little bit jealous of a human. Okay, no, this was Champion. He could totally believe he was jealous of Champion. “Take an extra half hour before dinner, you earned it.”

“Half an hour?” Lance groaned, lifting his head just enough to glare at Shiro. “You are a cruel bastard.” he said, then dropped his head back onto Hunk’s stomach.

Shiro just grinned and turned to walk away. Keith pushed off of the wall and followed him out the door, shuffling along towards the Paladins’ Quarters. He’d never understood Lance’s obsession with always showering after training, but if Lance felt this gross after a normal session then he guessed he could empathize. He paused outside his door, and frowned at the man standing there. “Can it wait, Coran?”

“Of course.” the altean grinned. “But please, take this.” he held out one of the datapads stacked in the crook of his arm, and Keith took it. It looked different from the ones Keith had seen the Paladins using, larger grips and more rounded corners, and- all the writing on it was in galran script. Keith scanned the large text at the top, and felt his eyebrows raise on his forehead.

“A test?” he frowned, looking back up at Coran.

“You and the other Paladins may be soldiers, but you’re also of schooling age.” Coran smiled, fond and probably a bit parental, not that Keith really had anything to base that assumption off of. “Take as long as you need to on that test, and give me back the datapad when you’re done. It’ll help me assign appropriate materials for you to study.”

“I’ll do that after my shower.” Keith grinned, tapping the operation panel and stepping into his room. He tossed the datapad on his bed, and let his altean appearance fade as he walked into the bathroom. He’d never been to school, slaves didn’t get that luxury, but an altean education had to be better than none, right?

\---

Keith curled up in the corner of the couch, datapad balanced on his knees. In most subjects he’d been started at an embarrassingly low level compared to the humans, but at least all of them were struggling with learning altean. On the other end of the couch, Hunk groaned and tilted sideways, twisting to land on his back. His datapad smacked against the back cushions with a loud thwack. Lance, without looking up from his own pad, reached up and patted the Yellow Paladin’s face.

“Could be worse. Could be history.” he said, and Hunk groaned again, letting his left arm drop across his eyes. The datapad clipped Lance’s head, and the Blue Paladin dropped his datapad as he curled forward, hands flying up to cup the point of impact with a shout.

“Honestly, I’d prefer ancient altean history to this.” Pidge complained, waving their datapad in the air.

“What’s that?” Shiro asked, and Lance cut off mid-curse with a strangled squawk.

“How long have you been there?!” he yelped, looking up now but still clutching the back of his head.

“Not long.” Shiro chuckled, leaning against the side of Pidge’s armchair. “What are you guys doing?”

“Homework.” Hunk groaned, lifting his arm and tilting his head back to give Shiro a baleful look. “Can you believe Coran actually gave us _homework_?”

“I mean, we’re in space por joder!” Lance threw his arms up, letting his head fall back against the edge of the couch cushion. “We shouldn’t have to do _homework_ in _space_. It’s just not fair.”

Shiro’s shoulders shook for a moment, and he fought a brief, losing battle with a small smile before clearing his throat and straightening his posture. “Don’t forget, you three were still cadets when we left Earth. It’s good to see you keeping up with your classwork.” his eyes flicked over to Keith, who grinned and held up his datapad.

“I’m working. They’re the ones complaining.”

“Nerd.” Pidge huffed, and Keith ducked as the smallest Paladin flicked a piece of metal at him.

“What, I can’t have fun just because humans think learning is boring?” he huffed, tensing in readiness to vault the back of the couch if Pidge leapt at him.

But they didn’t lunge, just slumped back in their seat and glowered at their datapad. “You are _such_ a weirdo.”

“Hey, it’s not his fault.” Hunk chimed in, propping himself back up into a sitting position. “He’s just never been subjected to the horrors of the American school system.”

“You’re both missing the obvious.” Lance grinned, tilting his head back to look at Hunk. “When have you ever met somebody with both a mullet and a good sense of fun?”

Keith scowled and flipped Lance a middle finger, a gesture which both their species had apparently developed to the same end. Shiro chuckled.

“Boys, stop messing around and do your homework.” he lifted his right hand, hesitated for a moment, then gently ruffled Pidge’s hair. “You too, Pidge.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Pidge huffed, but they smiled all the same.

Keith cocked his head to the side slightly as Shiro left the room, then turned to Lance and Hunk, who were muttering at their datapads. “Why isn’t he doing homework?” he asked, looking between the human Paladins.

“Shiro’s an adult.” Pidge shrugged. “He’d already graduated from the Garrison before he left Earth. We,” they gestured at themself, Lance, and Hunk, “are still technically students.”

“Come on, Pidge. We’re not Paladins in training, we’re Paladins. And anyway, I’m gonna be an adult in a few months. Hunk’s birthday isn’t that long after, and then your birthday’s in, what, October? So you’ve got a bit longer but still, we’re basically adults. The point is, we shouldn’t have to be doing homework.

Pidge raised a single eyebrow. “I’m fourteen.” they said flatly, and Keith ducked his head to mostly hide a smile behind his datapad.

“What?!” Lance yelped, sitting forward. “No way! Is your birthday even in October?”

“February.” Pidge was grinning now, smug as anything.

“So, wait.” Lance frowned. “How much older is your brother if he was on the Kerberos mission?”

“Eight years.” Pidge’s smile faded into something softer, then faded altogether. “It was his first off-world mission.”

“ANYWAY.” Hunk said loudly, putting down his datapad. “Shiro’s a grown-up and we’re not. He’s already learned this stuff, which is why he doesn’t have to do homework. Let’s get back to work now.”

Keith filled in a few blanks in the long paragraph, then looked up again. “Shiro can read Altean?”

Lance looked at Keith with wide eyes, mouth pulling slowly into a wide smile. “You know what, I don’t think he can.”

“So that means, Coran let him opt out of the test?” Hunk frowned.

Pidge was grinning again, the same wide smile as Lance. “I bet he doesn’t even remember half of what he learned at the Garrison.”

“Keith, my man.” Lance said, standing and flopping down in the middle of the couch. “You, are a genius.”

\---

The next day, Keith kept his ears up and listened intently for footsteps approaching the room. Since the only other sounds were the Paladins breathing, fingers tapping on screens, and the background noises of a ship, it wasn’t that hard. He looked up a tick before the doors opened, and when Shiro stepped into the room he probably thought everyone looked up at the sound. He looked, well, unhappy.

Keith curled a little bit tighter as the Black Paladin walked past him, ears falling back against his head as he shifted to look more altean. But Shiro didn’t say or do anything as he walked by, just stalked over to the armchair opposite Pidge’s, stepping over Lance’s outstretched legs without breaking stride. He sat down in it heavily, putting one ankle on his opposite knee and resting a datapad on his horizontal calf. A datapad with extra rounded edges, and a screen layout identical to Keith’s. Shiro looked up, and Keith shrank against the corner of the couch a little more at the death glare which panned over all of them.

“I hate all of you.” Shiro said in a perfect deadpan.

The human Paladins grinned as one, and Keith couldn’t help but smile along as he uncurled a little. He was a bit surprised by how guilty he didn’t feel. Shiro no doubt had duties to attend to, leadership stuff to talk about with Princess Allura, but with Hunk and Lance and Pidge so united Keith couldn’t help but feel, well, warm. This sort of unity was probably the closest someone like him could get to actually having friends.


	12. Chapter 12

Keith stood stiffly outside of Lance’s door, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. Sure, the Blue Paladin had said he was welcome to drop by any time if he wanted to talk or ‘hang out’, but after that battle...

The door opened, and Keith startled as suddenly Lance was just a foot in front of him. The human teen blinked at him, then grinned tiredly. “Hey, Keith.”

“Uh, hi.” Keith attempted to smile back, but it felt wrong on his face. Apparently it looked wrong too, because Lance’s expression fell. Keith ducked his head, and a hand came to rest on his shoulder.

“You okay, dude?”

Keith hesitated, then slowly shook his head. “Can we just, sit together?” he asked, glancing up through his bangs. Lance nodded and stepped aside, gesturing for Keith to enter. The Blue Paladin’s quarters were more or less identical to the Red Paladin’s, but flipped. And, most notably, Lance’s room had a lot more stuff in it than Keith’s. There were trinkets on the shelves, things undoubtedly picked up from the various planets he’d helped liberate from the Empire. The bed was an unmade mess, and a hamper in the corner had altean clothing hanging out of it.

“Sorry, room’s kinda a mess.” Lance chuckled, kicking a towel over towards the hamper.

“It’s okay.” Keith managed a grin, and sat on the edge of the bed. It was strange, back in the Empire he’d been comfortable in anyone’s bed, but now it felt... weird. Lance sat down heavily next to him, close enough to make him bounce but not close enough for Keith to feel his body heat. He scooted sideways, and leaned against Lance’s shoulder. Humans ran cooler than galra, and Lance ran cooler than most humans, but he was warmer than the air and that was comfort enough. Lance rested an arm across the back of his shoulders, and Keith relaxed into the gentle touch.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Lance asked after a moment of comfortable silence.

“Those ships had people on them.” Keith said quietly, letting his galran appearance fade away. Lance said nothing. Keith hadn’t really expected him to. The Paladins called full-blooded galra It when they talked about encounters with foot soldiers, they considered their enemy as less than people, numbers instead of lives. Keith couldn’t do that. He could destroy the fighters, those were manned by robots, but to see a battleship go up in flames...

“I know.” Lance sighed, rubbing Keith’s shoulder. “But what are we supposed to do, let them go?” he sounded tired, and Keith butted the top of his head against Lance’s chin.

“It was so quiet.” he murmured, relaxing slightly as Lance’s hand lifted to caress his ear. “I never realized how quiet space makes things.”

“We were far away, too.” Lance said softly, fingers tracing the front edge of Keith’s ear.

“It’s just, not the same on the other side of the battle i guess.” Keith sighed, eyes sliding shut as Lance began scratching behind his ear. He could still remember being on the Imperial side of a battle with Voltron, the klaxons and flashing lights and lockstep march of feet past the Emperor’s door. Everything had been so loud, and then- he smiled a little bit, and purred quietly. Then he had saved Lance’s life, and in return Lance had given him something closer to a home than he’d ever hoped to have.

“Hey, Keith?” Lance asked after a few minutes of quiet cuddling. Keith lifted his head from Lance’s shoulder and looked at him, frowning slightly when Lance’s fingers stilled. “Why did you save me?”

Keith looked back down, and leaned on Lance’s shoulder again. “I don’t know.” he mumbled. “I guess... because I was curious.”

“Huh.” Lance grinned against the top of Keith’s head. “Y’know, there’s a saying on Earth. Curiosity killed the cat.”

“But satisfaction brought it back.” Keith finished the adage as he’d heard Pidge do, nuzzling against Lance’s shoulder.

“Is that why you helped me off the ship, too?” Lance asked, and Keith let his eyes fall shut.

“No.” he said quietly, sliding his arms around Lance’s waist. For some reason, he couldn’t find it in him to lie. He didn’t want to, he realized after a tick. He didn’t want to lie to Lance, not when Lance had accepted everything Keith told or revealed to him so far. “I was scared.” he whispered.

“You had a gun to my head for half of our escape.”

“Not of you.” Keith shook his head minutely. “You were going to kill the Emperor. If he died, I would’ve been offered to all the ranking officers on board.” Lance tensed, but Keith kept talking so the human couldn’t voice what Keith was beginning to actually believe, that such a thing was barbaric and wrong. “But none of them would’ve wanted me. I’m a halfbreed, and none of them would’ve taken me, so I would’ve been...” he took a shaky breath, and Lance held him tighter.

“I would’ve been made property of the base.” he said, pressing his face against Lance’s shoulder. “The Emperor was rough, and he was cruel, but there was only one of him. I was afraid-” he drew another shuddering breath, and realized he was shaking.

“It’s okay.” Lance murmured soothingly, hand stroking down the length of his hair in a smooth, repeating motion. “It’s okay. You’re here, you’re safe.” he pulled Keith into a tight hug, and Keith didn’t struggle at all against the arm wrapped tight around his lower ribs. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.” Lance said, voice soft and full of emotions not unlike the ones welling in Keith’s chest. “Not like that. Never again.”

Keith lifted his head from Lance’s shoulder, and found their faces oh so close together. Lance’s eyes were blue, and beautiful, and Keith leaned in slowly. Lance’s lips were soft against his, still and unmoving, and he lingered in their chaste kiss for a few long ticks before pulling away. Lance’s hand stilled on the back of his neck, and the arm around his ribs loosened before lowering to rest nearer his hips.

“Why did you do that?” Lance asked, blinking in evident confusion, eyes locked with Keith’s like he was searching for an answer in them.

“Because I wanted to.” Keith said simply.

Lance grinned, and the hand on the back of Keith’s neck tightened. “Hope you wouldn’t mind another?”

“Not at all.” Keith grinned back, delighting in the way Lance’s cheeks flushed when he flashed his pointed teeth. Their second kiss was deeper, but no less soft. Lance’s tongue ran over Keith’s teeth gently, dragging against the needle-sharp tips, and Keith moved his hands up to cup Lance’s face. The Blue Paladin’s skin was smooth, soft under Keith’s fingertips, and Lance hummed quietly into their kiss before pulling away.

“You like that?” he murmured, forehead still resting against Keith’s.

“Yeah.” Keith breathed, and leaned in for another kiss.


	13. Epilogue

Zarkon snarled, and Allura pressed her heel down harder to keep him pinned as she fastened the handcuffs. “Give it up, Zarkon.” she hissed, pulling back on his cuffed arms. His armour grated against itself where her blows had shattered it, and later she might feel a bit bad about enjoying the sound it made but for the moment Allura relished it. “You’ve lost.”

“Never.” he growled, and Allura barely suppressed a laugh.

“Never? Look around.” she gestured at the scene in front of them. Shiro was wrestling a mostly unconscious druid into a cryo-pod, Keith was cuffing the remains of Zarkon’s elite troops with perhaps a bit more force than was strictly necessary, Hunk and Lance were standing guard over the soldiers who had willingly surrendered, and Pidge was down below coordinating their allies in managing the remainder of Zarkon’s forces. “Your robeasts are dead, your druids frozen, and your officers in chains.” She tugged a bit on Zarkon’s arms, and got a growl for her efforts. “Tell me, oh mighty Emperor. What part of this looks like victory from where you are?”

“The part where you have yet to kill me.” he spat. Allura moved her heel up to the most severely broken part of his backplate, where she’d stuck him to drive him to the ground in the first place, and pressed there.

“I will not sink to your level, Zarkon.” she said, the words dripping with icy disdain. “Voltron will dismantle everything you have built by conquest and kept by force. We will shatter your empire as I have shattered your armour, and you will be alive to see it done.”

Keith prodded the last of his cuffed prisoners into a rough line, then made a threatening gesture with his bayard before turning and walking over. Allura inclined her head to him briefly as he approached. Of all her Paladins, only Keith and Shiro had been wounded by Zarkon himself. And really, this was a confrontation she’d known was coming since the day Lance stood in front of her and told them all, indirectly, what exact shade of monstrous Zarkon had become.

Keith came to a stop at a conversational distance, and held himself tall. “Do you know who I am, Zarkon?” he asked, his voice flat.

“I know enough.” Zarkon spat. “You’re a traitor to your people, the lowest scum imaginable. It’s no wonder the altean bitch made you a Paladin.” Allura yanked sharply on Zarkon’s arms, and the galra under her heel snarled in pain. Keith reached up and removed his helmet, large blotches of his skin fading from his habitual purple to their true tone, pale and altean.

“Recognize me now?” he asked again, tone cold and furious. With the set of his jaw, the purple blood seeping from his split lip, the helmet tucked under his left arm and sword held easily in his right hand... he looked every bit as intimidating as the Red Paladin should. Allura felt a swell of pride, and fought to keep a smile off her face.

“You.” Zarkon growled. “My mongrel.” he made as if to stand, and Allura dug her heel into the broken armour between his shoulder blades to keep him on the ground.

“Yours?” Keith bared his teeth, deactivating his bayard and hanging it on his hip. “I’m not your anything.” he lifted his freed hand to the collar which sat snugly over his flight suit, and curled a finger under it. “Not your lover, and certainly not your property.” The sharp red and white nails which had manifested on his suit’s fingertips cut easily through the thick fabric when he jerked his hand down, and he flung the now-broken collar down on the ground in front of Zarkon’s face. “I belong to no-one.”

Keith turned, and Allura couldn’t help but smile a little as he started stalking away. He’d come so far from the frightened, hesitant child who could barely look her in the eye.

“You’ll never be their equal.” Zarkon said loudly, not shouting but simply raising his voice to be sure Keith would hear him. “You can remove your collar, but you can never change that.”

Keith didn’t even break stride, but Lance waved his bayard in the air for her attention. “Hey, Princess.” he called. “Are you _sure_ I’m not allowed to shoot his dick off?”

Allura rolled her eyes, but her small smile remained. Keith put his helmet back on, and walked back to stand guard over his rows of prisoners. He was her Paladin, through and through, and if he ever should think that his heritage or upbringing made him unworthy, well, Lance wouldn’t let those doubts persist.


End file.
